Characterization and Photoemission Dichroism of Epitaxially Grown Gd(001)/Y(0001)

Abstract

Gadolinium thin films approximately 100 Å thick have been grown epitaxially on a Y(0001) substrate. A threefold characterization has been performed. The surface structural analyses of the yttrium substrate and the gadolinium films were performed using x-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). The results of the XPD and LEED studies strongly suggest that gadolinium films have an effective C6vsurface symmetry, consistent with earlier studies of other hcp (0001) surfaces. The elemental analysis of the substrate and the film was done with x-ray photoemission using Mg, Al Kα x rays and synchrotron radiation. The magnetic analysis is based upon magnetic x-ray dichroisms observed in angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, using both linearly polarized and circularly polarized synchrotron x-ray radiation as the excitation. Photoemission from the Gd 4f and 5p core-level states were used in this magnetic characterization and will be presented. This includes novel magnetic linear dichroism angular distribution results for the Gd 5p, which exhibit up to 40% asymmetry, on a par with the previously reported circular dichroism results.

Department(s)

Physics

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0734-2101

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1998 AVS Science and Technology Society, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 May 1998

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS